NJ Judge Boots Prosecutor, Orders US Atty Trio's Testimony

By Jack Karp

A New Jersey federal judge on Monday questioned whether Alina Habba is still running the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office during a heated hearing where the jurist tossed a supervisory prosecutor from his courtroom and ordered testimony from the trio of attorneys who assumed Habba's responsibilities.

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NJ Justices Probe Daniel's Law Notification Requirement

By George Woolston

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned whether a notice requirement in the state's judicial privacy law is enough to ensure that any person or entity that can be held liable under the law acted with negligence.

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Fragrance Co. Inks $11M Icebreaker Deal In Price-Fixing Case

By Lauren Berg

A group of consumers asked a New Jersey federal judge Monday to preliminarily sign off on an $11 million class settlement with International Flavors and Fragrances Inc., which the consumers called an "icebreaker" deal cut in sprawling price-fixing antitrust litigation against four major fragrance ingredient makers.

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NJ High Court Eyes Global Plea Deal After Nixed Conviction

By Brandon Lowrey

A man who pled guilty to two indictments urged the New Jersey Supreme Court to let him withdraw his global guilty plea Tuesday, saying that an appellate win in one of the cases has strengthened his negotiating position.

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DOL Can't Fine NJ Farm Over H-2A Program, Justices Told

By Irene Spezzamonte

The U.S. Department of Labor's request to the U.S. Supreme Court to mull whether the department can fine a New Jersey farm for what it alleged were H-2A program violations is based on a misconception, the farm told the justices, urging them to deny the petition.

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NJ Restaurant Beats Customer's Suit Over E. Coli Poisoning

By Y. Peter Kang

A New Jersey appellate panel on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a suit over severe injuries suffered by a restaurant customer after eating an E. coli-contaminated salad, rejecting his attempt to categorize the case as a breach-of-contract claim.

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NJ Justices Create Attorney Readmission Board

By Jake Maher

New Jersey's highest court announced Tuesday it formally established a new body charged with overseeing readmissions of disbarred lawyers through changes to the state's standards for attorney conduct.

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3rd Circ. Upholds 8-Year Bid In Lottery Scam Targeting Elderly

By Elizabeth Daley

A Jamaican sentenced to more than eight years in prison for leading a lottery scam in New York City that fleeced at least eight elderly people of hundreds of thousands of dollars cannot escape his judgment, the Third Circuit said, upholding a district court's decision.

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Book Distributor Baker & Taylor Hits Ch. 11 To Wind Down

By Clara Geoghegan

Baker & Taylor, a 198-year-old book distributor, sought bankruptcy protection in New Jersey with at least $100 million in liabilities after the COVID-19 pandemic, litigation and a loan default forced it to shut down operations last year.

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2nd Circ. Panel Not Sold On Ivy League Players' Antitrust Suit

By Pete Brush

A Second Circuit panel seemed inclined Tuesday to uphold a Connecticut federal judge's dismissal of a challenge to the Ivy League's ban on athletic scholarships, though one judge suggested reviving the case to probe whether students properly pled antitrust injury.

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No Accidental Death Benefits For Plane Crash, Insurer Says

By Hope Patti

The beneficiaries of two pilots who died in a 2024 plane crash are not entitled to accidental death and dismemberment benefits under an aviation company's life insurance plan, a Prudential unit said Tuesday, asking a Washington federal court to toss the beneficiaries' suit.

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Brief

Cipla To Hold Off On Pediatric Cancer Drug Generic Until 2033

By Elliot Weld

Specialty drugmaker Fennec Pharmaceuticals has jointly announced with Indian multinational pharmaceutical company Cipla Ltd. that they had reached an agreement to settle patent infringement litigation in exchange for Cipla delaying the manufacture of a generic pediatric cancer drug until 2033.

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Brief

Mich. AG Joins Fair Housing Laws Fight Against HUD Guidance

By Elizabeth Daley

Michigan's attorney general spoke Tuesday about joining 15 states and the District of Columbia in a California federal suit claiming the Trump administration undermines enforcement of fair housing laws by threatening to halt funding for local government programs protecting people discriminated against for gender and sexual orientation, among other things.

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How High Court Recast State Sovereign Immunity In Galette

The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in Galette v. New Jersey Transit, asserting that the state-chartered transit agency has independent corporate personhood and sole obligation to pay judgments against it, turned on substance rather than form — and its analysis should be carefully reviewed in courthouses and statehouses, say attorneys at McCarter & English.

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Opinion

3rd Circ. Must Reject EEOC's Flawed Equal Pay Theory

To avoid illogical outcomes, the Third Circuit, in Cartee-Haring and Marinello v. Central Bucks School District, should refute the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s recently filed amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs’ bias claims based on pay compared with one single co-worker, say Allan King at Littler and Stephen Bronars at Edgeworth Economics.

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Analysis

Texas Biz Court's Likely Role In Patent Fights Becoming Clear

By Dani Kass

The Texas Business Court has released its first opinion exploring when intellectual property can be used to create jurisdiction, and attorneys say the decision involving state trade secret law offers insight into when patent matters can be pursued there.

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Conn. Justices Won't Hear Ex-Alex Jones Atty's Ethics Case

By Andrea Keckley

The Connecticut Supreme Court will not hear a challenge to the two-week suspension of Alex Jones' former lawyer, leaving intact an intermediate Appellate Court decision affirming the pared-down punishment surrounding his law firm's handling of Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims' personal information.

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Calif. Bills Would Reform Litigation Funding, Client Recruiting

By Emily Sawicki

Two new bills introduced to the California Assembly this week seek to impose reforms on the state's legal industry, including adding mandatory disbarment for attorneys convicted of felony "capping" — or illegally paying for client recruitment — and blocking corporate litigation funders from influencing cases.

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Senator Unveils Draft AI Bill Intended To Wipe Out State Regs

By Hailey Konnath

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., on Wednesday released a draft of proposed legislation that would override a "patchwork" of state artificial intelligence regulations, touting the proposal as protecting "children, creators, conservatives and communities" and slamming the state regulations as hindering "AI innovation."

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Biotech Investor Blames Pierce Atwood For Messy Asset Sale

By Julie Manganis

A Ukrainian billionaire who was recently ordered to pay other investors in a failed genetic testing company more than $1.8 million in damages is blaming the Pierce Atwood LLP lawyers who advised him on what a court later found to be a "fundamentally unfair" forced asset sale.

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Powell Says He Won't Make Fed Exit While Facing DOJ Probe

By Jon Hill

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that he will stay on as a board member of the central bank if he remains under U.S. Department of Justice investigation when his term as Fed chairman runs out this spring.

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